{"title":"Monolith Productions","description":"\u003cp\u003eMonolith Productions was founded on October 25, 1994 in Redmond, Washington by Bryan Bouwman, Toby Gladwell, Brian Goble, Jace Hall, Garrett Price, Paul Renault and Brian Waite, and spent three decades earning a reputation as one of the most technically ambitious first-person studios in the business. Rather than build on someone else's technology, the team wrote its own LithTech engine and licensed it to other developers, and that licensing income is what kept the lights on through the studio's early years. Its first wave of games showed a team with a wide range and a taste for the unusual: Blood (1997), a gore-soaked Build-era shooter with a cult following that has never really faded, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (1998), which put players inside anime-styled mechs, and then the pair of releases that made Monolith's name with critics, The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000) and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002). The NOLF games blended 1960s spy-film pastiche, genuinely funny writing and stealth-or-shoot level design in a way few studios have managed since. Tron 2.0 (2003) followed as a visually striking licensed shooter, and in August 2004 Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment acquired the studio, which operated as a Warner Bros. Games developer from that point on, later relocating to Kirkland, Washington.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnder Warner Bros. the studio moved decisively into horror. The Matrix Online (2005) was a licensed MMO, but the same year brought F.E.A.R. (2005) and Condemned: Criminal Origins (2005), two games that defined what Monolith was best at: shooters and brawlers with a horror edge and enemies that behaved with unnerving intelligence. F.E.A.R.'s squad AI, with soldiers that flanked, retreated, flushed players out of cover and called out their tactics aloud, is still cited as a benchmark two decades later. Condemned 2: Bloodshot (2008), F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (2009) and F.E.A.R. 3 (2011) extended both series, and Gotham City Impostors (2012) and Guardians of Middle-earth (2012) marked a turn toward Warner's own licences. That turn paid off with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014), whose Nemesis System let individual Uruk captains remember their fights with the player, earn promotions when they killed you and carry the scars of encounters they survived. It was a genuinely new idea in an open-world action game, and Shadow of Mordor collected more than 50 \"Best of 2014\" awards, including Game of the Year, Best Action Game and Most Innovative Game. Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017) expanded the system further and turned out to be the studio's final release. On February 25, 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery closed Monolith Productions after cancelling the Wonder Woman game it had been developing. The studio is gone, but its catalogue holds up unusually well: the games collected here are the reason \"F.E.A.R. AI\" and \"Nemesis System\" are still shorthand among players for enemies that feel like they are thinking.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-game-of-the-year-edition-pc-download","title":"Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition","description":"\u003cp class=\"lead\"\u003eMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition is the definitive version of Monolith Productions' dark fantasy action game, bundling the base adventure with The Lord of the Hunt and The Bright Lord story missions, the Trials of War challenge series, extra Warband missions, and every rune and skin released for it. You play Talion, a ranger of Gondor slain at the Black Gate alongside his family, then dragged back from death and bound to a Spirit of vengeance. Together, ranger and wraith go into Mordor to hunt the ones responsible, and along the way uncover the origins of the Rings of Power and what the spirit really is. Winner of over 50 \"Best of 2014\" awards, including Game of the Year, Best Action Game and Most Innovative Game.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Nemesis System remembers everything\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSauron's army is not a faceless horde. The Uruk captains and warchiefs you meet are individuals with their own names, strengths, fears and grudges, and the Nemesis System tracks every encounter. Kill a captain and someone rises to take his place. Lose to one and he gets promoted, growing stronger and more confident each time he sends you back to the grave. Survive a fight against him and he carries the scars into your next meeting, and he will bring up the burn you gave him. No two playthroughs produce the same rivals, which is why this mechanic earned the game its innovation awards and why its enemies are still talked about years later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eRanger skills, wraith powers\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTalion fights with a sword, a dagger and a bow, and the combat rewards rhythm: counters, dodges, brutal finishers, and a growing set of executions that thin a crowd fast. When you would rather not be seen, the ranger side of the kit takes over with stealth takedowns, high perches and patient stalking through orc strongholds. The wraith adds the tools no mortal has: slowing time to line up arrow shots, draining an enemy's mind for intel on the captains above him, and eventually dominating Uruks outright so they fight for you. Skill trees, runes slotted into your weapons and a steady flow of upgrades let you shape Talion toward whichever style suits you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAn open Mordor to roam\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is an open-world game built for parkour and exploration. Talion scales towers, ruins and fortress walls freely, and the map rewards wandering with collectibles, lore and side content that feeds back into the Nemesis hierarchy. The story is rich in Tolkien-adjacent lore, touching on the forging of the Rings and the figures around Sauron's rise, and the world is suitably grim: expect frequent strong violence rendered in a dark fantasy register, with plenty of blood in the finishers. This is a mature title and plays like one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat the Game of the Year Edition includes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eThe Lord of the Hunt Story Pack\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eAn additional story campaign that sends Talion after new beast-mastering threats in Mordor, complete with its own missions, challenges and rewards that extend the main adventure well past the credits.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eThe Bright Lord Story Pack\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA second story expansion that reaches back into the origins of the Rings of Power, letting you experience a chapter of the lore the base game only alludes to, with new missions and unlocks of its own.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eTrials of War and Test of Defiance\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA full challenge series: Test of Power, Test of Speed, Test of Wisdom, Test of the Wild, Test of the Ring and an Endless Challenge mode, plus Test of Defiance, each stressing a different part of Talion's toolkit.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eWarband Missions\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eFive additional Warband missions, Guardians of the Flaming Eye, The Berserks, The Skull Crushers, The Bloodhunters and The Flesh Burners, pitting you against themed captains and their followers.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eSkins and Runes\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eSix skins (The Dark Ranger, Captain of the Watch, Lord of the Hunt, The Bright Lord, Power of Shadow and Lithariel) and nine runes, including Hidden Blade, Deadly Archer, Flame of Anor, Rising Storm, Orc Slayer, Defiant to the End, Elven Grace, Ascendant and One with Nature.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003ePhoto Mode\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA built-in photo mode for freezing the action and framing your own shots of Mordor, its Uruks and the finishing blows you land on them, useful for sharing the rivals the Nemesis System hands you.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003c\/dl\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eSingle-player, start to finish\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShadow of Mordor is a solo campaign with no multiplayer component, so the entire experience is yours to pace as you like. Full controller support, achievements and cloud saves round out the package, and the game ships with full voice audio in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, with Polish and Russian text as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMordor is waiting, and so is the captain who will make your life miserable before you finally put him down. Pick up the Game of the Year Edition and go build a legend of your own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Warner Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":35267079308,"sku":"PC_9837275788_DL_L_JP_SS_XK","price":7.79,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0875\/3268\/files\/card-middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-game-of-the-year-edition-pc-game.jpg?v=1788837708"},{"product_id":"middle-earth-shadow-of-war-xbox-one","title":"Middle-earth: Shadow of War","description":"\u003cp class=\"lead\"\u003eMiddle-earth: Shadow of War picks up where Shadow of Mordor left off. The Gondorian Ranger Talion and Celebrimbor, the wraith of the Elven smith who forged the Rings of Power, walk into Mount Doom and forge a new Ring of their own, one that owes nothing to Sauron. With it they mean to raise an army from Mordor's own orcs and take the Dark Lord's Fortresses from the inside. Monolith Productions built this open-world action RPG around the Nemesis System, the enemies-who-remember-you idea that made the first game famous, and expanded it into something that runs a whole region's worth of orc politics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eNothing Will Be Forgotten\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Nemesis System is the reason people still talk about these games. Every orc captain is generated with a name, a tribe, a personality, strengths, weaknesses and a set of grudges, and the game keeps track of every encounter you have with him. Kill a captain and someone rises to fill the gap. Die to one and he is promoted, and the next time you meet he has something to say about it. Shame him instead of killing him and he might drop a level and come back looking for revenge, or lose his mind entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShadow of War pushes this much further than its predecessor. Captains you dominate become followers with loyalty of their own: some will take a blade for you, some refuse to stay dead, and some are simply waiting for the right moment to betray you. A blood brother turns up to avenge the friend you killed. An orc you were sure was finished walks back into the story with a metal plate where half his face used to be. None of it is scripted. The stories are yours, and the game never lets you forget them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eTake the Fortresses, Then Hold Them\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery region of Mordor is ruled from a Fortress, and every Fortress is held by an Overlord and his Warchiefs. Taking one is the centrepiece of the game. First you work the region: dominate captains, send them to infiltrate a Warchief's bodyguard or challenge him outright, and build the army you will need. Then you pick your siege upgrades, from sappers to siege beasts and drakes, and march on the walls with your captains beside you while the defenders answer with poison pits, fire and beasts of their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce the Overlord falls, the Fortress is yours. You choose who sits on the throne, which captains guard it and how it is fortified, because the enemy will be back to take it. Each of the seven tribes, Machine, Marauder, Warmonger, Feral, Dark, Mystic and Terror, brings its own look, its own tricks and its own defences to a garrison, and the choices you make change how a region looks and fights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFive Regions of Mordor\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eMinas Ithil\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eThe Gondorian city where the story opens, already under siege by the Witch-king's army. Talion fights beside Captain Baranor and Idril to hold the walls, and the city's fall into Minas Morgul sets everything that follows in motion.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCirith Ungol\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eShelob's mountain pass and the orc stronghold built into it. Its tunnels and cliff paths suit the stealth side of the game, and the Ringwraiths are never far behind you here.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eNúrnen\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eThe green shore of the Sea of Núrnen, watched over by the nature spirit Carnán. It looks nothing like the Mordor of the films, and its forests and ruins are thick with Caragors and Graugs waiting to be broken.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eSeregost\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA frozen fortress in the mountains and the hunting ground of the Balrog Tar Goroth. Snow, cliffs and drakes make it the harshest region to move through and one of the most satisfying to take.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eGorgoroth\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eThe ash plain in the shadow of Mount Doom, where Sauron's power is strongest and his best captains are stationed. The war for Mordor comes to a head here, and nothing you built in the other four regions goes to waste.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003c\/dl\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFight Like the Bright Lord\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTalion fights with sword, dagger and bow, and with the wraith abilities Celebrimbor lends him, and the game gives you a lot of room to decide how those pieces fit together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSix skill trees, Combat, Predator, Ranged, Wraith, Mounted and Story, each with upgrades you can swap in and out. A stealthy Talion who drains captains from the shadows plays very differently from one who rides a Graug straight into a war camp.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGear with real consequences. Every captain you kill drops equipment tied to his tribe, legendary sets carry their own bonuses, and gems slotted into swords, bows and armour push a build further. Some pieces only reach their full strength once you complete a challenge with them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMounts worth the effort. Caragors, Graugs and drakes can all be broken and ridden, and a drake breathing fire across a Fortress wall changes the shape of a siege in a hurry.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWraith powers that grow with the Ring. Shadow Strike across a courtyard, slow time mid-leap for a bow shot, or Dominate a whole war party and walk away with a new bodyguard.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the standard edition of Middle-earth: Shadow of War, with the full campaign across all five regions, every Fortress and the Shadow Wars that follow the main story. Sauron's armies are waiting, and every orc inside those walls is about to learn your name. Pick up the Ring, choose your first captain, and find out who remembers you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Warner Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":12737988427862,"sku":"PC_1378088157270_DL_GL","price":22.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0875\/3268\/files\/card-middle-earth-shadow-of-war-microsoft-pc-xbox-game.avif?v=1788908213"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.pjsgames.com\/en-ch\/collections\/monolith-productions.oembed","provider":"PJ's Games","version":"1.0","type":"link"}